Waffen-Obersturmbannführer der ϟϟ Riipalu

Waffen-Obersturmbannführer der SS Harald Riipalu

Waffen-SS Volunteer at the Battle of Tannenberg

After the Soviet occupation of Estonia in 1940 Harald Riipalu (born Reibach) was forcibly mobilized into the Soviet Red Army 22nd Territorial Corps and served there during 1940-41. In 1941 he defected to the German side to fight against the Soviet aggression. Riipalu served in the Estonian 20.Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS and became the Commander of Waffen-Grenadier-Regiment der SS 45 Estland. Waffen-Obersturmbannführer der SS Harald Riipalu was one of four Estonian commanders who earned the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. He was awarded the Knight's Cross for his actions in the Battle of Tannenberg Line and in the Battle of Auvere where Riipalu and his regiment drove back the assault of the Red Army, which prevented the Soviets from encircling Armee-Abteilung Narwa (Army Group Narva). The award was presented to him by the commanding general of III. (germanisches) SS-Panzerkorps SS-Obergruppenführer Felix Steiner. After Nazi Germany had lost the war, former Estonian freedom fighters were hunted by the USSR, but Riipalu managed to remain in the free world. From 1945 to 1948 he lived in Denmark, later he and many other Estonian Waffen-SS veterans settled in the U.K. Harald Riipalu died aged 49 on April 4 1961 in Heckmondwike in England. Image: Harald Riipalu in Dorpat on Nov. 10 1944. Fair use. Bottom image: Waffen-SS MG 34 gunner of Korps Steiner in the fortified area of the Tannenberg Line. Photo by SS-KB Kraus who covered the Nordland in the bloody battles of Northeastern Estonia in 1944. Credit: Julius Backman. U.S. National Archives.

ϟϟ-Untersturmführer der Waffen-SS Pehrsson

Hans-Gösta Pehrsson as SS-Untersturmführer in Panzergruppe Saalbach

Original SS-Division Nordland Cuff Title

The Swede Hans-Gösta Pehrsson became Commander of the so called Schwedenzug of SS-Panzer-Aufklärungs-Abteilung 11 of the 11.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division Nordland during the battles in the Baltics. He was promoted to SS-Obersturmführer on June 21 1944 and led his company through the retreat from the Courland to Stettin (Pommern) and on to Berlin. One of his fellow soldiers remembered Hans-Gösta Pehrsson this way: The place was called Trekni. Pehrsson received an order for the 3rd company directly from SS-Brigadeführer Joachim Ziegler: Attack! Conquer one strategically important point and keep it until the last men are alive!' After the attack, once we had driven the enemies away from the upland and occupied their bunkers, only a few men from Pehrsson's company had remained. It was terrible bloodshed, one-on-one. The Russians knew what was at stake and tried to use all possible means to reconquer the upland. For four days we tried to stay strong and beat off the enemy's attacks. On the fifth day we had to retreat. Pehrsson's command point was about 100 meters behind the bunker line. I'll never forget the moment he saw us. He yelled: Cowards, go back!, and then he led his MG to attack and we followed him. We surprised the Russians, who were certain of their win, with 12 men. Russians had not seen it coming and we managed to capture more than 100 Russians [October 16-19 1944]. Pehrsson was promoted to SS-Hauptsturmführer on April 15 1945 and became deputy commander and Ic (intelligence section) of Nordlands HQ's staff. He was captured by the Soviets during the final Battle of Berlin, but managed to escape and returned back to Sweden in the summer of 1945. Waffen-SS commander Pehrsson ended the war having been awarded a row of decorations; Iron Cross First Class, Close Combat Clasp in Silver, Wound Badge in Silver, Panzer Assault Badge in Silver, Infantry Assault Badge and the rare Honour Roll Clasp of the Army. Top image: Hans-Gösta Pehrsson on the Estonian front in the spring of 1944. National Archives of Norway. PD.

Volunteers of 11.ϟϟ-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division „Nordland“

Erik Wallin as SS-Unterscharführer

Schwesternhelferin Deutsches Rotes Kreuz

Erik Wallin, born in 1921 in Stockholm, Sweden, had already volunteered twice to fight the Soviets before he volunteered for the Waffen-SS. He participated in both the Winter War and the Continuation War following the Soviet assault on Finland. Erik Wallin fought in the Swedish Volunteer Corps 1939 – 1940 and in the Swedish Volunteer Battalion 1941 – 1942. After returning to Sweden, he was stationed at Luleå Anti-Aircraft Corps in the Swedish Army before joining the Waffen-SS in January 1943. Wallin was first assigned to the multinational SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Wiking after having attended the Waffen-SS training school SS-Ausbildungslager Sennheim. Wallin was then transferred to the 11.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division Nordland where he served as a platoon commander in SS-Panzer-Aufklärungs-Abteilung 11, Nordland's Reconnaissance battalion known as Panzergruppe Saalbach. Nordland's fighting units, including its own medical department SS-Sanitäts-Abteilung 11, were destined to be drastically thinned by casualties during its fighting withdrawal from the Baltics. SS-Unterscharführer Erik Wallin continued in Nordland from the fierce fighting in Narva all the way to the central government district in Defence sectore Zitadelle of Berlin as described in his war memoirs. The book does not evade the brutality of fighting against the advancing Soviet Red Army. It is edited by another Swede, the Leibstandarte SS Kriegsberichter Thorolf Hillblad who is still alive in 2011. Wallin was promoted to SS-Oberscharführer in 1945. He died aged 76 on September 24 1997 during a Waffen-SS reunion in Berlin. Awards: Iron Cross Second Class, Close Combat Clasp in Silver, Panzer Assault Badge 25, Wound Badge, Finnish Medal of Liberty Second Class, Finnish Coastal Artillery Cross and the Lapland Cross for the Continuation War - awarded members serving in the Finnish-German Army Corps. Source: Twilight of the Gods: A Swedish Waffen-SS Volunteer's Experiences with the 11th SS-Panzergrenadier Division Nordland. Left image: Erik Wallin as SS-Unterscharführer at the Baltic front. Courtesy of Joakim Munter. Right image: a volunteer nurse of the DRK. The Nordland's female front nurses retreat from Balticum was characterized by a stop and go process and constant fear of the Soviets. Such themes highlighted a perception of victimization or threat of victimization, which continued to be relevant as the nurses' units moved into the eastern portions of the Reich itself. Credit: Olga Shirnina.

Volunteers of 11.ϟϟ-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division „Nordland“

SS-Sturmmann Svend Larsen

11.SS-Frw.Pz.Gren.Div. Nordland

Danish SS-Sturmmann Svend Arne Larsen born in 1921 volunteered for the Waffen-SS in 1941. He served with the Danish SS volunteer free corps Freikorps Danmark in the Demyansk Pocket in 1942 and were transferred to SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 24 Danmark of 11.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division Nordland in 1944. Svend Larsen was awarded the Infantry Assault Badge and the Wound Badge in Silver. As an active veteran he received the Veterans decorations Ulrichsberg Ehrenzeichen in Gold and in 1999, a medal from the Estonian Association of Freedom Fighters. Svend Arne Larsen died aged 88 on March 22 2008 in Jutland in Denmark. Here's a link to an interview from 1994 with among others Waffen-SS volunteer Svend Larsen for Danish TV2 (without English subtitles). Left image: SS-Sturmmann Svend Larsen during his stay at the SS-Lazerett Trauenstein in Bavaria in 1944. Public domain. Right image: an unidentified Norwegian SS-Rottenführer of the Nordland Divison. They both wear the Nordland Sunwheel collar patch. Courtesy of P. Wallendal. 

Scandinavian „Nordland“ Officers in the Baltics

SS-Untersturmführer Ellef Rasmussen

SS-Untersturmführer Johan Petter Balstad

The left photograph shows the Dane SS-Untersturmführer Ellef Henry Rasmussen photographed by the Swede SS-Untersturmführer Hans-Caspar Kreuger outside his command post in Narva 1944. Rasmussen joined the Waffen-SS in 1940 and served in SS-Infanterie-Regiment Nordland of the Wiking Division before attending the 3.Lehrgang for Germanic officer candidates at SS-Junkerschule Bad Tölz. In 1943 he was assigned to the newly formed 11.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division Nordland. In the final phase of the war Rasmussen become the commander of II./SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 24 Danmark. He took part in many important campaigns and battles: Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union; Operation Edelweiß, the advance into the Caucasus; Battle of Narva and Battle of Berlin. After World War II, Rasmussen spent two years in prison on treason convictions, despite having had permission to serve in the Waffen-SS granted by the Danish government and the king during the war. His war memories are written by Danish historian Peter Møller Hansen: Troskab - Dansk SS-frivillig E.H. Rasmussens erindringer 1940-45. Ellef Rasmussen died aged 93 on January 1 2016. Credit: Emma Malleret. Fair use. Right image: Norwegian SS-Untersturmführer Johan Petter Balstad served with SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 23 Norge of the Nordland Division. Balstad wears the Iron Cross First Class, the Wound Badge and no less than three Single-Handed Tank Destruction Badges. He single-handedly destroyed three Soviet T-34 tanks in the autumn of 1944. Johan Petter Balstad died aged 61 on June 18 1985 in Oslo, Norway. Public domain.

Battle of Tannenberg Line or the Battle of the Blue Hills

Volunteer Oswald Van Ooteghem of SS-Freiwilligen Legion Flandern

Flemish 6.SS-Freiwilligen-Sturmbrigade Langemarck

The 27.SS-Freiwilligen-Grenadier-Division Langemarck was engaged in very heavy combat against the Soviets and the men of Flandern defeated major Soviet attacks alongside men of 2.SS-Panzer-Division Das Reich, 11.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division Nordland, 28.SS-Freiwilligen-Grenadier-Division Wallonien and several German formations during World War II. An example of the fighting spirit and tenacity of the Flemish volunteers can be seen by the actions of the Panzerjäger SS-Sturmmann Remi Schrijnen later promoted SS-Unterscharführer in 6.SS-Freiwilligen-Sturmbrigade Langemarck. When forces of the Soviet Leningrad Front began their assaults on the Blue Hills (Sinimägede lahing) near Narva between July 26 and August 12 1944 the Battle Group of the other Belgian formation 5.SS-Freiwilligen-Sturmbrigade Wallonien, personally led by SS-Sturmbannführer Léon Degrelle, and elements of Waffen-Grenadier-Regiment der SS 45 Estland of 20.Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS were sent up to Orphanage Hill to bolster the defence. The men of Sturmbrigade Langemarck and Wallonien, the Dutch 4.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Brigade Nederland and SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 23 Norge of the Nordland Division and Regiment 45 Estland saw extremely heavy fighting on the gentle slopes of Orphanage Hill. During these attacks, Remi Schrijnen single handedly knocked out over a dozen Soviet tanks while wounded and cut off from his unit. Over a 48 hours period, Schrijnen personally halted several Soviet tank attacks which threatened to encircle the Langemarck and the Estonian SS men fighting alongside them. Schrijnen was found unconscious and close to death the following day. He is also one of only a handful of privates to have received the Knight's Cross. After the war, Schrijnen returned to Belgium, was arrested, tried and received the death penalty. This was commuted to life-long imprisonment. He was released in 1950 on condition of good behaviour. However, he participated in so called "amnesty marches" (claiming amnesty for those who had fought on the Eastern front). He was arrested again and held in prison for almost two years. In 1962 Schrijnen emigrated to West Germany and took German nationality. He died on July 27 2006 in Hagen in Nordrhein-Westfalen. Credit: Remy Schrijnen; The Last Knights of Flanders. Top image: portrait of the later SS-Untersturmführer Oswald Van Ooteghem of the Legion Flandern. Flemish Van Ooteghem was sentenced to three years in prison when he returned to Belgium in 1949. In 1950, however, he was released and became an executive in a construction company and was a provincial councilor of East Flanders and served as a directly elected senator for the district of Ghent-Eeklo in the Senate. The veteran of the Flemish Legion and Langemarck Oswald Van Ooteghem passed away in Gentbrugge at the age of 98 on November 1 2022. Credit: Johnny Sirlande. CEGES-SOMA. PD. Bottom image: Flemish Waffen-SS volunteers of the Langemarck sit atop a destroyed Soviet T-34 in the outskirts of Narva in 1944. Credit: Julius Backman Jääskeläinen. Historian and author Jonathan Trigg's collection. Fair use.

Nordland's Reconnaissance Unit: Desertion and Withdrawal from Estonia

SS-Panzer-Aufklärungs-Abteilung 11 Nordland

SS-Panzer-Aufklärungs-Abteilung 11 Nordland

SS-Unterscharführer Markus Ledin and some Estonian Coastal Swedes

On September 17 1944, Panzergrenadier-Kompanie 3 of the battle-hardened Nordland Division's armoured reconnaissance battalion received orders to withdraw to Pernau in southwestern Estonia for evacuation. During the retreat the company was involved in rearguard battles and had two of its SPW half-tracks destroyed by air attacks. On the morning of September 21 1944, the company column was still on the road to Pernau when the Swedish Wiking veteran SS-Unterscharführer Markus Ledin's SPW was cut off behind enemy lines. Ledin and two fellow Swedes, SS-Sturmmann Sven Alm and SS-Rottenführer Ingemar Somberg, finally reached the Pernau suburbs only to discover it was already occupied by the Soviets. They turmed around and tried to reach Tallin. In the darkness of night they ran straight into two Red Army trucks, killing at least four soldiers, and were fired upon as they approached the suburbs of Tallin. The town was also occupied by the Soviets. They then made their way to Haapsalu on the west coast. During the journey, they had several skirmishes with the Soviets but escaped without their vehicle being hit. They manage to reach Haapsalu, only to find out the Soviets were already there. On September 23 1944, they reached the village Noarootsi near Haapsalu after three nights through enemy territory. According to various accounts, they run into some 15 Soviet soldiers who were busy looting and murdering the local inhabitants near or in Noarootsi, the Soviets made it a policy to loot and rape civilians in Soviet occupied territories. The Swedes surprised the Red Comrades. After the attack, some civilians began to kill the still surviving, but wounded Soviets in revenge. The Waffen-SS trio managed to leave Estonia together with some 140 Estonian refugees in a fishing boat on September 26 1944. When they reached the Finnish coast, they met patrols of the Finnish Coastal Guard (Finland was at this point no longer in war with the Soviet Union). Ledin and Alm had both served in the Swedish Volunteer Corps during the Russo-Finnish Winter War and their Finnish medals earned them all a quick release. The overloaded vessel reached the Swedish town Norrtälje north of Stockholm on October 4 1944. The Baltic crossing had not been without difficulties and dangers and six of the Estonian passengers had been washed overboard and drowned. Source: The Swedish SS-platoon in the Battles for the Baltics, Pomerania and Berlin 1943-45 and the author Lars T. Larsson. Top image: Swedish volunteers of the Nordland's recon unit checking for lice. Second man from the left is Ledin's commander SS-Untersturmführer Hans-Gösta Pehrsson. Middle image: sitting in front is the Swede SS-Rottenführer Karl-Olof Holm and the NCO behind him is Ledin. Both photos taken in Estonia in the summer of 1944. Lars T. Larsson Archives. Fair use. Bottom image: the deserter Markus Ledin is seen here on the boat deck leaving his comrades behind in Latvia when the war seemed to be lost. Ledin had served with the Waffen-SS since January 1942. Screenshot from a private film. Public domain.

Unternehmen Aster – the abandonment of the Estonian territory

s.Pz.Abt.502 in the Dünaburg area 1944

SS-Pz.Aufkl.Abt.11 'Nordland in the Dünaburg area 1944

The III (Germanic) SS-Panzerkorps had bled itself white defending the Tannenberg Line in Estonia. The headquarters of the Heeresgruppe Nord pulled it back into Latvia in September 1944 to defend the capital Riga. The Soviet forces launched a ferocious attack on Riga in September 1944, but the German and the European volunteer units held their positions. Riga was finally taken by the Soviets on October 13 1944 and Heeresgruppe Nord was driven into what was known as the Kurland or Courland Pocket, where it remained isolated until the end of the war in Europe. From late October to December 1944, the 11.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division Nordland fought fierce defensive battles in the pocket. The Nordland Division's manpower strength was about 9,000 officers and men in December 1944. In January 1945, the division was ordered to the Baltic port of Libau, where it was shipped out of the pocket to Pommern and assigned to SS-Obergruppenführer Felix Steiner's SS-Panzer-Armeeoberkommando 11, which was now forming in anticipation of the defence of Berlin. Top image: Panzerkampfwagen Tiger n°308 of the schwere Panzer-Abteilung 502 in the assembly area at Dünaburg (Daugavpils) in Latvia in 1944. The unit covered the retreat of German forces from the Leningrad area and held Narva in Estonia before being transferred to Pleskau and Dünaburg in 1944. It claimed the destruction of 1,400 enemy tanks and 2,000 guns. This gives them an overall kill-loss ratio of 13.08. The 502nd surrendered to the Soviet Red Army on May 9 1945. Credit: Fisher22. Commons: Bundesarchiv. Bottom image: Swedish volunteers SS-Rottenführer Karl-Olof Holm and SS-Unterscharführer Erik Wallin in Dünaburg in Latvia in 1944. Both served in Nordland's SS-Panzer-Aufklärungs-Abteilung 11, also known as Panzergruppe Saalbach. The 24 year old Karl-Olof Holm were later caught by the German Feldgendarmerie trying to desert the Courland Pocket. He was probably executed or died in a Penal Battalion in Latvia in 1944. Public domain.

Latviešu leģions (1st and 2nd Latvian)

Latvian Legion of the Waffen-SS

19.Lettische SS-Freiwilligen-Division (lettische Nr. 2)

The 15.Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS, together with the 19.Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS formed the Latvian Legion. During the second half of 1944, the 15th Latvian Waffen-SS Division was in training near Danzig. In January 1945 the division consisted of about 15,000 soldiers fighting near Danzig before retreating to Pomerania. By early April 1945, the division was reduced to 8,000 men and about 1,000 were sent by sea to replenish Heeresgruppe Nord in the Courland Pocket. On April 11 1945, the division was told about plans to transfer the entire division to Courland. Understanding that being sent to Courland would mean eventually having to surrender to the Soviets, the rest of the 15th Latvian SS Division decided to surrender to the Western Allies instead, disobeying German orders. The 19.Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS continued to fight in Latvia. In October 1944, Soviet advances in Lithuania cut off it and other European units in the Courland Pocket from the rest of the German forces. It was a part of the six battles between Soviet and German armies in the Courland Pocket in 1944 and 1945. Together with other units in the Courland Pocket, the 19th Latvian Waffen-SS Division surrendered to the Soviets at the end of the war on May 9 1945. Subsequently almost 50,000 Latvian soldiers became Soviet prisoners of war, interred in filtration or Gulag camps. Credit: Wikipedia i.a. Top mage: the Latvian Waffen-SS Volunteer Legion in a parade in Riga on Latvian Independence Day, according to various sources, the 15th Latvian SS Division. Bottom image: Regimental commander of the 19th Latvian SS Division Voldemārs Veiss funeral in Riga. Legion-Obersturmbannführer Voldemārs Veiss was the first Latvian to receive the Knight's Cross. He died on April 17 1944 from wounds he had suffered from an artillery shell-splinter. Photo by Kriegsberichter Lothar Foltinek. Commons:Bundesarchiv.

Battles of the Courland Bridgehead: Casualties and losses

Men of the Latvian Legion of the Waffen-SS

19.Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (lettische Nr. 2)

Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin ordered repeated attacks into the Courland cauldron, disregarding heavy losses. Soviet launched six major offensives against the Wehrmacht, Waffen-SS and Latvian forces entrenched in the pocket between October 15 1944 and April 4 1945. According to a communiqué from Heeresgruppe Kurland of March 16 1945, the Soviets lost 320,000 soldiers, 2,388 tanks, 659 planes, 900 cannons, through the first five battles for Courland. The Soviets are estimated to have lost an additional 74,000 in the sixth and last battle, as waves of tens of thousands of Soviet attackers were slaughtered at Liepāja. According to German historian Karl-Heinz Frieser, Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS units suffered 118,000 killed, wounded and missing during the Soviet offensives in Courland. All units of Heeresgruppe Kurland were ordered to surrender by the capitulated Wehrmacht command on May 8 1945. According to recent scholarship, a total of about 181,000 German and Latvian troops were taken into captivity from the whole Baltic area and taken to camps in the USSR interior and imprisoned for years. The Soviets detained all males between the ages of 16 and 60 in Latvia. Soldiers of the Latvian Legion who surrendered along with the Germans or were captured were treated as traitors under the pretext that Latvia was part of the Soviet Union and many summarily executed. Top image: an SS-Standartenoberjunker of the Latvian Legion. Bottom image: men of the Latvian 19.Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS in 1944-45. Credit: Johannes Dorn. Netwerk Oorlogsbronnen. FU.

19.Waffen-Grenadierdivision der ϟϟ and the Latvian Forest Brothers

SS man identified by some as Latvian Ādamsons

Latvian Forest Brothers

The man in the left photo is often identified as Waffen-Hauptsturmführer der SS Miervaldis Ādamsons. For various reasons, Stabswache de Euros doubt this is correct. However, Ādamsons, of Latvian origin, had been accepted in the SS on November 10 1941. He ended up fighting for an independent Latvia in the 19.Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS. Another highly combat experienced Latvian volunteer in that same division was the Knight's Cross and CCC in Silver holder Waffen-Obersturmführer der SS Roberts Ancāns. On numerous occasions Ādamsons dressed as a Soviet partizan to infiltrate their lines and brought back priceless information. His company repelled seven attacks by the Soviets in the Kurland or Courland Pocket in a single 24-hour period. For this remarkable defensive success Ādamsons was awarded the Knight's Cross on January 25 1945. He survived the war and entered Soviet captivity in May 1945. Ādamsons was sent to a forced-labor camp in the mines at Murmansk. After a second escape attempt he was executed by the Soviets in Riga on August 23 1946. Awards among others: Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, German Cross in Gold, Close Combat Clasp in Bronze, Infantry Assault Badge in Silver and Wound Badge in Gold. In 1993 Miervaldis Ādamsons was fully exonerated by Latvian supreme court. The photo was taken by former SS-Kriegsberichter Ernst Baumann in 1944, which suggests that the photography actually shows a member of the Wiking division. Credit: Benoit Vienne. Commons: Bundesarchiv. Right image: some of the several tens of thousand Latvians who had worn the uniform of the Waffen-SS continued fighting the Soviets as Forest Brothers in the countryside for years after the war. The conflict between the Soviets and the Forest Brothers lasted over a decade and cost at least 50,000 lives. Photo shows Latvian freedom fighters armed with the Soviet PPSh-41 submachine gun and the German Sturmgewehr 44. The photo was taken in the small town of Ērgļi in Latvia in 1951. Credit: Julius Jääskeläinen. PD.

Scandinavian Waffen-SS Front Nurses in the Baltic States

SS-Frontschwester Elsa Stendal

Scandinavian SS Front Sisters

The Scandinavian SS Front Nurses were deployed in pairs, and those older than 21 years mostly served in Finland, the Baltic States and in the Soviet Union. As the war ended, the front nurses returned home to countries liberated from the German yoke. Many of them were arrested by the home-front. With the exception of Denmark, all other 'germanic' countries sentenced their front nurses to varying degrees of jail-time, fines and loss of civil rights. Left image: Norwegian SS Front Nurse Elsa Stendal; she survived World War II and moved to Paris. Right image: three of the around 350-400 Norwegian women who served as Waffen-SS Nurses. The nurse on the left wears a black leather belt with the standard SS-pattern buckle clasp featuring the motto Meine Ehre heißt Treue, and a machine-embroidered Edelweiss insignia of SS mountain units. Both photos were probably taken by Max Ehlert, a German press photographer who had matured in the Weimar-era movie industry and later joined the Nazi party just after the Nazi take-over. He exercised his well-honed talent as a cinema and fashion photographer, and was capable of producing hard party propaganda and the soft lowbrow kitsch that provided a pleasant distraction from the period's tumultuous events and increasing repression. Credit: Andres Mario Zervigon. Fair use.